Foot-guard for railway-frogs.



No. 737,103. I PATENTED AU G.25 ,1903.

'' H. HOOKER.

FOOT GUARD FOR RAILWAY PROGS\ APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1993.

N0 MODEL.

Guam,

UNITED J ST TEs Tatented August 25, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

FOOT-GUARD FOR RAILWAY- FROGS.

sienczncA'rronrormin part of Letters Patent No. 737,103, dated August 25, 1903.

Application filed June 1, 1903. $erial No. 169,649. (No model.)

I 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HOOKER, a citizen ot' the United States, residing at Ohadron, inthe county of Dawes and State 'of Nebraska,

have invented certain new and useful Ims the same.

This invention relates to means for blocking and guarding railway-frogs, guard-rails, switches, &c. p

The object of the invention is to provide a blocking or guard for those portions of railway-frogs, guard-rail, switches, or any other parts of a railway which unavoidably, owing to their construction, present large openings, into which the foot of anvoperator may be easily caught and held and from which the same might not be removed quickly enough to avoid a moving train, resultingfrequen tly in serious and fatal accidents. 7 7

Another object is to construct suchblocking or guards from cast off material which is unfitted for other use, thereby utilizing iron which would otherwise besold for scrap.

A further object is to provide a blocking or guard of this character which is simple in construction, quickly assembled and applied,

, and which will be stron g, durable, and lasting and well adapted to'the purpose for which it is designed.

With these and other objects in view the,

invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top' plan view of a railway-frog and guardrails, showing the application ofthe device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectionalview on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one form of the blockings or guards, and Fig. 4. is a similar view of another form of the same.

In the drawings, 1 denotes the frog of a railway, 2 the main rails, and 3 the guardrails.

denotesthe rear angle of the same.

The blocking or guard 6 consists in gen 9,"the plate 8 having formed thereon a rightangularly-disposed tongue or attaching members, by which this end of the guard may 4. denotes thefront angle of the'frog, and 5 be spiked down to a tie. The plate 9 at the opposite end of the guard is of such width and construction as to permit the same to be forced between the converging ends of two rails and to engage between the ball or head and the flange of the same, thereby firmly holding the same in place against movement up or down. In some instances the plate 9 is dispensed with and the ends of the rods flattened, bent down, and spiked to the tie.

At A in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 2 is shown the application'of the guard or blocking to the guard-rails of a frog, and at B and C is shown the application of the same to the front and rear angles of the frog. In Fig. 3 is shown the arrangement of the guard when used in connection with the guard-rail, it being of course understood that the shape of the guard will be necessarilyvaried toconform tothe shape of the diiferent openings to be protected, the same principles of construction and arrangement, however, being maintained in all the forms necessary for the complete guarding of the railway. For instance, in Fig. 4. is shown the form of guard that is necessary in connection with a split-point switch, this form requiring the addition of a rod or bar 7, formingan extension to fill the long narrow space necessary to this form of switch.

In most cases the rods or bars 7 are of different diameters, the larger of the two rods being arranged to [it closely under the ball or head of the main rail, out of the way of the car-wheel flange, while the smaller rod lies adjacent to the opposite rail and is disposed in a slightly-higher plane than the larger rod, thus closing up the space between the rails sufliciently to prevent the foot of the opera-= tor from getting caught therein.

The advantages derived from a guard or blocking constructed as herein described will be readily apparent, and aside from the protection such a guard affords a great saving is afforded the railroad company in that the guards are entirely constructed from scrapiron, such as old boiler-tubes and worn-out rods of all descriptions, which are utilized for the rods of the guards, while old boiler-iron and other scraps form the supporting-plates. Furthermore, guards formed in this manner and of such material are greatly superior to the wooden blockings or guards commonly used and which continually need replacing, and may be much more quickly put in place and more rigidlyheld than most guards now in use, and will last indefinitely.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation, and advantages of my invention will be readily apparent, itis thought, without requiring-a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters 0 Patent, is-

1. A foot guard or blocking for railway frogs, switches and the like, comprising horizontally-disposed cylindrical rods or bars, arranged alongside each other and spaced apart on dill'erent planes, a supporting-plate fixed to the inner ends of said rods or bars and adapted to fit between the heads and flanges of two adjacent rails, and a supporting-plate fixed to the opposite ends of said rods and adapted to be spiked to a railway-tie or other support, substantially as described.

2. A foot guard or blocking for railway frogs, switches and the like, constructed from discarded boiler-fines and scrap-iron rods, the ends of said boiler fines or rods being flattened, and means for supporting said flues and rods in proper position, said means consisting of slotted plates arranged at the ends of said fines, the flattened portions of said ends being adapted to enter the slots in said plates and to be upset or clenched to hold the same in place, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY HOOKER.

\Vitnesses:

GUY E. BENI-IAM, C. A. BAUM. 

